COST OF LIVING/Minimum wage increase to benefit 2.57 million Taiwanese, migrant workers

Taipei, Sept. 4 (CNA) The planned 4.08 percent increase in the minimum wage is expected to benefit 2.57 million workers, including about 368,000 migrant workers, Minister of Labor Ho Pei-shan (何佩珊) said Wednesday.

The Minimum Wage Deliberation Committee earlier in the day reached a decision to raise the minimum monthly wage from NT$27,470 to NT$28,590, pending Cabinet review.

About 1.89 million workers, including roughly 368,000 migrant workers, are set to benefit from the monthly wage increase, Ho said.

Meanwhile, the increase in minimum hourly wage from NT$183 to NT$190 is set to benefit about 676,800 Taiwanese workers, she added.

Any minimum wage hike does not apply to live-in migrant caregivers and domestic helpers, who are not covered by Taiwan's Labor Standards Act.

Some academics who participated in Wednesday's review meeting recommended setting the level of wage increase at no less than the level decided during last year's meeting, 4.05 percent, given the rising consumer price index (CPI), Ho said.

Others argued that the usual practice of adding 50 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) growth and the full CPI increase forecast for this year should be respected and that the level of the wage increase should therefore be no less than 4.12 percent.

The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics last month forecast year-on-year GDP growth would be 3.9 percent and CPI increase reach 2.17 percent in 2024.

On the other hand, meeting participants representing workers suggested that the increase be set at 4.77 percent, Ho said.

However, representatives of the private sector recommended an increase of 3 percent, expressing concern over the "less-than-optimistic" economic outlook, Ho added.

Ho said she later suggested that the increase be set toward the median value at 4.08 percent, which the meeting's participants accepted.

Tai Kuo-jung (戴國榮), president of the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions and also a committee member, told reporters after the meeting that the outcome was "acceptable."

Meanwhile, Ho said, a Cabinet-level "upgrade plan" for small, medium, and micro enterprises to help such businesses cope with the fallout of the minimum wage increase is under consideration.

The plan will not be aimed solely at subsidizing small, medium, and micro businesses but more at helping them upgrade and transform, thereby driving economic growth, Ho explained.

If approved, the planned minimum wage increase will take effect on Jan. 1, 2025, and see Taiwan raise the minimum wage for the ninth straight year.

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